Cheese-making machine.



E. VEEMAN.

I CHEESE MAKING MACHINE.

APPLIOATION FILED MAB..13. 1912. 1,04 ,90 Patented Dec. 10, 1912.

2 SHEETBSHEBT 1.

WITNESSES J6 Z0 INVENTOR ZZ/i 6 566222 ATTORNEYS COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPHco., WASHINGTON, D. c.

13-. VEEMAN.

CHEESE MAKING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED M11113. 1912.

Patehted Dec.10,1912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

[AWE/ TOR WITNESSES ATIORIVEYS COLUMBIA PLANoaRAPH c0. WASHINGTON, D. c,

EELKE VEEMAN, OF SNEEK, NETHERLANDS.

. CHEESE-MAKING MACHINE.

Loaaaoe.

Application filed March 13, 1912.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EELKE VEEMAN, a subject of the Queen of theNetherlands, and a resident of Sneek, Netherlands, have invented a newand Improved Cheese-Making Machine, of which the following is a full,clear, and exact description.

An object of my invention is to provide a machine for use in themanufacture of cheese, and adapted for performing operations nowgenerally performed by hand with the aid of various tools, by the use ofwhich machine the curd will be efiectively broken up and thoroughlyworked to a uniform and superior condition, the mechanism havingprovision for effectively extracting the whey and effecting itsdischarge while collecting the curd in an annular layer in thecontaining vessel against the inside surface of the side wall of saidvessel.

In general terms the illustrated example of my improved machine presentsan exterior tub, a vessel removably fitted in the tub and spacedtherefrom to form an in tervening space for receiving steam, hot water,or other heating medium, a shaft mounted to revolve centrally in thesaid vessel, radial arms carried by the shaft, shafts stepped in theradial arms and carrying curd breakers of novel construction, andoverhead driving gearing for revolving the several shafts on their ownaxes. The mentioned curd breakers during the final operations of themachine are removed and the radial arms raised out of the vessel, afterwhich the central shaft receives a special form of blade for collectingthe curd and separating the whey therefrom.

In the illustrated example of my machine I have shown a particulararrangement of driving gears for actuating various shafts forming partof the machine, and while this arrangement is advantageous andpreferable, it may be varied in practice.

The various novel features of my machine, as well as the importantstructural. forms will appear from the more specific descriptionhereinafter to be given.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part ofthis specification, in which similar characters of reference indicatecorresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of a machine embodying my invention;Fig. 2 is a partly sectional plan view thereof, on line Specification ofLetters Patent.

Patented Dec. 10, 1912.

Serial No. 683,410.

22 Fig. 1; Fig. 8 is a plan View of a tie connection between shaftsconstituting part of my invention; Fig. 4 is a perspective view of acurd-collecting and whey-extracting blade of novel form; Fig. 5represents a cross section of one of the radial arms to be hereinafterreferred to; and Fig. 6 is a fragmentary detail showing one of theblades of the curd breaker removably fitted in the frame thereof.

In constructing a machine in accordance with the illustrated example,the tub 10, which may be of Wood suitably bound, receives a removablevessel 11, which is spaced at all sides and at the bottom from the saidtub to provide a chamber 12 adapted to receive steam, hot water, orother heating medium which may enter through a pipe 13, and be drainedoff through any suitable outlet as 14, the said vessel 11 being formedwith a horizontal top flange 15 bridging the space 12 at the top, andextending to the side wall of the tub 10. The bottom 16 of the vessel 11inclines or dips downward and inward from the periphery toward thecenter, as clearly shown in Fig. 1, and in said vessel there is mountedto revolve a central shaft 17. The shaft 17 may be stepped at its lowerend in any suitable manner; preferably there is a central base member18, constituting a bearing and located beneath the tub 10, which bearingreceives a journal stud 19 screwed to the lower end of the shaft 17,said journal member 19 having a steel pin 20 driven therein and restingon the bearing 18. Surrounding the attached journal member 19 is aflanged collar 21, fitted in the bottom of the tub 10 and on which thebottom of the vessel 11 rests. Any suitable frame bearing 18 is providedfor the upper end of the shaft 17.

On the shaft 17 are carried radial arms 22, each of which as shown inFig. 5, presents a front face 28 that inclines upwardly and rearwardlyfrom the bottom edge of the arms so as to constitute a scraper for thecurds, and in said radial arms are stepped vertical shaft-s 24, to whichcurd breakers 25 are secured, as by pins 26, the several shafts beingactuated in the manner hereinafter described. Each curd breaker 25comprises two series of blades 27 28, one series at each side of theshaft 24; one series of the blades, as 27, are disposed vertically orapproximately so, while the other series 28 are disposed horizontally,the blades of the latter series being in practice slanted rearwardly andupwardly so as to have a lifting action on the milk and on the curds.Thus the milk and curds are acted upon by the scraping radial arms 22 atthe bottom of the vessel, and by the vertical and horizontal blades ofthe curd breaker to effectively agitate the milk and break up the curds.

Between the several shafts extend tie bars 29, 30, supported as by acollar 31, at the under side, and held above as by collars 32 on theshafts 24. In the tie bars 29, 30, the shafts 24 rotate as the said barsand shafts are carried around with the revolution of the central shaft17. The preferred arrangement of the driving devices for the shafts andtheir appurtenances is as follows: A gear wheel 33 is loose on the shaft17, being sup-ported on the upper tie rod 30 and meshing with said loosegear wheel are spur pinions 34, which are keyed on the shafts 24.

Above the gear wheel 33 and spaced therefrom, there is keyed to theshaft 17 a sec ond gear wheel 35, provided with bevel teeth 36 on theunder side of the periphery so that the gear is generally in the form ofa crown gear. A drive shaft 37 is supported in suitable bearings 38 andprovided with a suitable arrangement of driving device, illustrated inthis instance as a conventional pulley 39, and on said drive shaft bevelspur pinions 40, 41 are keyed to mesh respectively with the gear wheels33, 35. The gear 35 serves to drive the shaft 17, and thus the radialarms 22, the tie rods 29, 30, and the shafts 24 with their spur pinions34 are carried around with the said shaft 17 In the meantime the shafts24 are rotated on their own axes through the action of the drivingpinion 40, the gear wheel 33 and the spur pinions 34.

It will be observed from Fig. 1, that the shafts 24 are formed incoupled sections, the lower sections 24 that carry the curd breakers 25being suitably coupled to the upper sections as by a sliding sleeve 42,which is adapted to fit over the overlappedv or rabbeted meeting ends43, 44 of the shaft sections, the said coupling sleeves resting oncollars or flanges 45 on thelower sections 24. By raising the sleeves 42slightly, the lower sections 24 and the curd breakers may be lifted outof the vessel, after which the radial arms 22 are raised to the positionshown in dotted lines Fig. 1, where they may be temporarily supported inany suitable manner, as by hooks 46 on the tie rod 29. The shaft 17 isnow ready to receive the curved blade 50 (Fig. 4), said blade beingformed at one end and along the edge thereof with an eye 51, said eyebeing open at a side as at 52. This shaft 17 is flattened at oppositesides, as at 17*, whereby to be received in the eye 51 through the openside 52 thereof, after which the blade is given a partial turn and thekey inserted in the seat 53, to hold the blade fixedly on the shaft. Theblade is provided also with suitable handles 54 for convenience inmanipulating it.

In practice, the milk in condition for the making of cheese is placed inthe vessel 11 and steam or hot water beingdirected into the chamber 12,the machine is started to actuate the shafts and agitate the milk untilit is heated equally and to the desired degree. WVhen the tub has beenfilled and the temperature has reached the proper degree, the'rennet isput in, the machine being at this time stopped and the tub covered untilthe milk is suiiiciently coagulated. The shafts are new again rotated toagitate the milk with the rennet therein for about fifteen minutes,after which some of the whey is drawn off, there being an outlet 55 inthe form of a drain pipe which communicates with the interior of thevessel 11 and extends from about the center thereof at the lowestportion of the vessel. The speed of the machine is now increased, andafter op I crating for from thirty to forty-five minutes more whey isdrawn off, after which the speed may be increased. When the curd hasbeen sufficiently broken up by the curd breakers 25 and the radialscraper arms 22, the said curd breakers are removed by uncoupling thelower shaft sections 24*, and the radial arms 22 are raised on the shaft'17 to the upper position. The curved blade 50 is now secured to theshaft 17 in such a manner that in the rotation of the shaft, the outwardconvexed surface of the blade 50 will be presented to the curd, theeffect of which will be to press the curd in advance of the blade sothat the curd will be collected in the form of a vertical layer againstthe upright side wall of the vessel 11, the whey in the meantimeescaping rearwardly through the perforations 56 of the blade as thelatter advances, to finally pass out through the outlet 55.

The blades 27, 28 are received in slots 25 in the frames of the curdbreakers so as to be removable for cleaning.

By my improved machine the operation of working the curd and removingthe whey is performed with a minimum of labor, and the curd is broughtto a uniform and superior quality, after which it is packed in the usualmanner.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new, and desire to secureby Letters Patent,-

1. A machine for use in working curd in cheese making, comprising areceptacle for the milk, said receptacle consisting of an outer tub anda removable vessel spaced from the tub to form a chamber for a heatingagent, and curd breakers mounted to travel around the interior of theinner vessel and to rotate on their own axes.

2. In a machine for use in working curd in cheese making, a curdbreaker, comprising a frame, and vertical series of blades disposed insaid frame, one vertical series being approximately radial and the otherset approximately vertical.

3. In a machine for use in working curd in cheese making, a curd breakercomprising a frame, and sets of blades disposed in said frame, one setbeing approximately radial and the other set approximately vertical, theradial blades being slight-1y slanting from the front portion toward therear.

4. A machine for use in working curd in cheese making, comprising a tub,a vessel within said tub, a heating chamber between the tub and vessel,the said vessel having a bottom inclined downward from the exteriortoward the center and having a whey outlet leading from about thecenter, a central shaft, radial arms carried on said shaft to be carriedaround thereby, shaft-s stepped in said arms, curd breakers mounted onthe last mentioned shafts, tie connections between all of said shaftsabove the Vessel and in which tie connections the second mentionedshafts may turn, and means for turning each of said shafts on its ownaxis.

5. In a machine for use in working curd in cheese making, a vessel, acentral shaft mounted in said vessel, radial arms carried by said shaft,to be carried around thereby, a shaft supported in each of said radialarms and carrying curd breakers, tie bars connecting said shafts abovethe vessel and in which the second mentioned shafts may rotate on theirown axes, a gear wheel loose on the central shaft, spur pinions keyed onthe other shafts and meshing with the said gear wheel, a second gearwheel keyed on the central shaft, a driving shaft, and driving pinionson said drive shaft and meshing respectively with the gear wheels on thecentral shaft.

6. In a machine for use in working curd in cheese making, a vessel, acentral shaft mounted in said vessel, radial arms on said shaft to becarried around thereby, a shaft stepped in each of said arms, a curdbreaker on said last mentioned shafts, tie bars connecting all of saidshafts above the vessel and in which the shafts stepped in the radialarms may turn, a gear Wheel loose on the central shaft, spur pinionskeyed on the other shafts and meshing with the said gear wheel, a secondgear wheel keyed on the central shaft above the first mentioned gearwheel, a drive shaft, and driving pinions on said drive shaft andmeshing respectively with the gear wheels on the central shaft, thedrive shaft and its pinions being disposed above the loose wheel andbelow the fast gear wheel.

7. In a machine for use in working curd in cheese making, a vesselhaving means for heating it exteriorly, a central shaft having actuatingmeans, radial arms carried by said shaft, and shafts stepped in saidarms and having driving means, said last-mentioned shafts comprisingcoupled sections to permit the lower sections to be removed withoutdisturbing the driving connections, the mentioned radial arms beingmovable vertically on said central shaft.

8. An agitating dasher for use as a curd breaker and for other purposes,comprising two series of blades, the blades of one series being disposedat pronounced angles to the blades of the other series, the bladesconstituting one series being at one side of the axis of thecurd-breaker, and the other series at the opposite side of the axis.

9. In a machine for use in working curd in cheese making, a vessel forreceiving the milk, a central shaft mounted to revolve in said vessel,radial arms carried by said shaft and formed with front faces slantedupwardly and rearwardly, shafts stepped in said radial arms, curdbreakers carried by said second mentioned shafts, and means foractuating the central shaft.

10. The combination with a vessel, of a central shaft therein, radialarms on the shaft, shafts stepped in said radial arms, portions of saidshafts being removable, and curd breakers carried by the removableportions of the shafts, the radial arms being movable upward on thecentral shaft above the vessel when the curd breakers and the shaftportions are removed.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

J. ONEDEW, A. C. NELSON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each,'by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

